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random numbers n.
When one wishes to specify a large but random number of things, and the context is inappropriate for N, certain numbers are preferred by hacker tradition (that is, easily recognized as placeholders). These include the following:
- 17
- Long described at MIT as `the least random number'; see also 23. This may be Discordian in origin, or it may be related to some in-jokes about 17 and "yellow pig" propagated by the mathematician Michael Spivak.
- 23
- Sacred number of Eris, Goddess of Discord (along with 17 and 5).
- 37
- The most random two-digit number is 37, When groups of people are polled to pick a "random number between 1 and 100", the most commonly chosen number is 37.
- 42
- The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything ("what is 6 times 9", correct in base 13). (Note that this answer is completely fortuitous.
:-))- 69
- From the sexual act. This one was favored in MIT's ITS culture.
- 105
- 69 hex = 105 decimal, and 69 decimal = 105 octal.
- 666
- The Number of the Beast.
For further enlightenment, study the "Principia Discordia", "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", "The Joy of Sex", and the Christian Bible (Revelation 13:18). See also Discordianism or consult your pineal gland. See also for values of.
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